Before the war, he ran a moderately successful TV and computer repair shop. But after his showroom in Azaz, Syria, was destroyed by a tank shell, he decided he needed a change of career: he would go into the business of selling and repairing arms instead.

“When I was a child I would go hunting with my father." Handling weapons, he says, "was a hobby."

With fierce fighting raging in Syria and across the border in Iraq, what was once a hobby has now become a lucrative — if bloody — business for Abu Ammar who spoke on condition that only his nickname be used for security reasons.

Ammar shows off an AK-47 he has for sale in his shop.

Image: Patrick Hilsman

Located about 20 miles northwest of Aleppo, Azaz is a smugglers' city, a notorious stopover on the trafficking route of cigarettes, weapons and drugs.

In the span of two years, the city has changed hands at least five times between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, various factions of the Syrian opposition and radical militants from ISIS. And the ongoing fight has taken its toll.

Massive garish homes known as smugglers' palaces lie in ruins. On the outskirts of town, 20,000 Syrians displaced by the war live in dilapidated camps.

A Syrian refugee woman is seen between a line of tents in a displacement camp near Azaz in February 2013.

Image: Manu Brabo/Associated Press

The city has witnessed abductions, beheadings and other war crimes and, as a gateway to the Syrian conflict, is an apocalyptic landscape forewarning travelers of the horrors that lie ahead in Aleppo, one of the the cities hardest hit in the three-year conflict.

War has brought misery to Syria. More than 191,000 people have been killed and more than 6.45 million others have been forced to flee their homes, according to the United Nations. Entire cities have been leveled as the regime has cracked down on what began as a popular uprising.

Whereas most people in Azaz scrape by, many without jobs, Abu Ammar has been able to adapt. And against the backdrop of the city ruins, his weapons store seems nothing out of the ordinary.

A Syrian woman walks past a regime tank which was destroyed by the rebels in Azaz in August 2012.

Image: Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press

A little hole-in-the-wall across from a compound in ruins, Abu Ammar's shop looks like a tiny Brooklyn bodega — only instead of candies and cigarettes, his shelves are filled with arms.

Abu Ammar evenly displays his merchandise, giving customers the choice between pump-action shotguns, gas-masks, AK-47s and grenades — weapons stolen from the regime, taken from the front lines or in some cases smuggled from Turkey.

"The AK-47 is the most popular and everyone uses it," he says.

When asked, Abu Ammar says most of his customers are not militants but civilians seeking protection in an increasingly mad world.

Ammar shows off a gas mask for sale.

Image: Patrick Hilsman

The war, of course, has brought business to Abu Ammar's shop but has also caused prices to fluctuate rapidly.

"Before the liberation you could get an AK for as little as $150; now the price can reach $3,000 depending on the situation… and the value of the dollar."

A shotgun these days cost about $200 and grenades runs about $50 a piece. Showing off a grenade from the shelves, he calmly explains that it can kill up to ten people and that the user should be sure to have good cover before throwing it.

A shelf inside of Ammar's shop displays shotgun shells, gun magazines, and a grenade for sale.

Image: Patrick Hilsman

The 58-year-old is a native of Azaz but, as a young man, moved to Damascus where he met his wife and joined the army.

Soon he was fighting in the civil war in neighboring Lebanon where Syrian forces operated by proxy, though he claims that the current situation in his own country is “much worse."

"People have no mercy for children or people who they know," he says.

Spent shell casings on the ground in Azaz in December 2012.

After eight months of pitiless ISIS rule, Azaz was liberated earlier this year by a coalition of more moderate FSA rebels and Islamist groups known as the Islamic Front.

Abu Ammar, who despises the brutality of ISIS and their radical reading of the Koran, was delighted. Bombs and regime rockets still pummel the city but these days, Abu Ammar says, he feels much safer.

"The ISIS suspected everyone and executed people randomly," he says, adding that the militant group was also bad for business: When the radicals ruled his hometown, he was forced to shut down his store and go into hiding.

Guns for sale in Ammar's shop.

Image: Patrick Hilsman

Abu Ammar admits that the trade in weapons is far more profitable than the TV and computer shop he ran during more peaceful times But he claims he doesn't feel fully at ease with his new profession.

"Sometimes, people have to do things they don’t want to," he says.

What he really wants to do, he adds, is to stop selling arms and go back to TV sales and repairs.

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